User blog:Lhikan634/Common grammatical mistakes
With the experience of a decade in online administration, including 8 years with Wikia Fandom, I have come to the conclusion that most people know very little about English grammar. In fact, a lot of points that are grammatically correct will be undone by new editors. Now, I really can't blame these users since no one really bothers with grammar when speaking (and since newspaper authors are bad role models for grammar). With all of this in mind, I've come up with a short guide to common grammatical errors that pop up on wikis. Paragraphing We use paragraphs to divide a document into simpler ideas and to avoid what has come to be known as "wall text." While dividing a work into paragraphs may be easy in a formal essay for college, doing so in everyday writing may not be so easy. Some authors barely use any paragraph divisions and may have paragraphs of between 250 and 500 words each. Other authors may have a paragraph with a single sentence of 10 words. While neither technically is incorrect to do, neither translates well into online works such as a wiki. An easy point to insert a paragraph division is at any change of location. In fact, most changes of location in Huntik should result in a new paragraph apart from short, 1-minute scenes. Another good point for a paragraph division is a major change of action or subject. Another way to gauge whether a new paragraph should be made is the length of the current paragraph. When editing in Source Mode, a length of about 6-8 lines tends to have the best results. Generally, anything longer than 10 lines in Source Mode won't look good and probably needs to be divided into two paragraphs. Hint for episode pages: Full episode plots generally should be at least 4 sections, and each section may contain around 1-3 paragraphs. Hint for character and Titan pages: A single paragraph may contain content from more than one episode, so use story arcs as a general guide for connecting content instead of making each episode into its own paragraph. Split Infinitives An infinitive is the basic form of a verb that is preceded by the word to, for example to write. There are also infinitive phrases such as to have gone, used to know, and to have just. Splitting infinitives is when some form of material, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, is placed between words of the infinitive. By application, the idea often is applied to any form of verbal clause beyond just infinitives. Now, the problem with split infinitives is that there's no consensus on whether doing so is permissible or the unforgivable sin of grammar. As the best rule of thumb is to avoid ambiguity and awkward sentence structure, most formal writing venues suggest against splitting infinitives. In general, I have to agree that splitting up a verbal phrase is just too darn clunky and may make the reader have to backtrack in order to understand the sentence. Even so, like most "rules" of English, there are exceptions. Take for example a situation involving a rule against running. While some may say that the rule is not to run, saying that the rule is to not run is more clear on the prohibition. Again, clarity really needs to be the ultimate rule. To offer a potential explanation, I would suggest that the verbal phrase here actually is to not run as the actual action is not running (as opposed to running in a particular manner that the adverb modifies). To summarize, avoiding a split infinitive or split verbal phrase is usually best unless doing so causes ambiguity or otherwise changes the meaning of the sentence. Transitional Words In order for any work to flow, any author must use some form of transitional word(s) between sentences. Doing so permits the sentences to flow and helps to show how events are related. Transitions usually can be identified as being at or near the beginning of a sentence and set apart by commas. While an exhaustive list would be impossible, a guide has been compiled by the University of Wisconsin - Madison. An even longer list of about 200 words and phrases appears on Smart Words. I have provided an even shorter subset below. Pronoun Reference Pronouns, by definition, are used in the place of nouns. Virtually all pronouns (apart from indefinite pronouns ending in -body, -one, and -thing) have an antecedent, that is the noun that the pronoun is replacing. Because pronouns are so easy to use and save time in communicating, people have a habit of forgetting that the antecedent may not be obvious. Thus, pronoun reference errors occur and may even cause confusion due to ambiguity. While many more pronouns exist, I have provided a list of pronouns that commonly are involved in pronoun reference errors when writing on wikis. Note that I have removed the pronouns I'', ''you, and we since none of these pronouns should be used in articles anyway. Pronouns in English have two main components - gender (male / female) and number (singular / plural). Grammatically, a pronoun refers backward to the most recently used noun matching the pronoun's gender and number. A good rule of thumb is to find a way to avoid using pronouns if any question can exist as to which noun is the antecedent. Also, never multiple pronouns with the same gender and number that refer to different antecedents. A special note: Though possible to use correctly, the pronoun it is just a pain. Unless the pronoun is referring back to an indefinite pronoun, such as something, any author is better off using a different wording. Doing so makes it pronoun reference much easier. Subject-Verb Agreement Similar to pronoun reference, in subject-verb agreement goes back to the gender (male / female) and number (singular / plural) of the subject and the verb. Most often, these issues involve prepositions or pronouns. Prepositions are wonderful, but some authors mistakenly match a verb to the object of a preposition instead of the actual subject. Writing Style As a bit of a side point to grammar, writing style is important as well. That is, just because something is grammatically correct does not make it appropriate for use in a particular setting such as on a wiki. One of the easiest examples is that professional writing and writing on a wiki generally avoid use of swearing. Another example is that such writing usually should avoid use of exclamation marks to end sentences. If a sentence doesn't seem to have the right amount of oomph then the best course of action is to use less general vocabulary and to make better use of adjectives and adverbs. About Lhikan634 Lhikan is a university lab instructor / lecturer with 6 years of experience in teaching. He is a member of several national academic societies, including the National Honors Society for English. Ever policy-minded, he has 10 years of experience in the online policy enforcement subset of cybersecurity and has drafted official policy forms for his science department. He fails to understand why most "About Me" sections use the third person but has given in to the standard. Category:Blog posts Category:Admin blog